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Toronto school for web developers runs afoul of accreditation rules

Matt Gray, one of the founders of Bitmaker Labs, said the company shut down until it receives accreditation from Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, which launched an investigation two weeks ago.

A Toronto-based programming company offering a crash course in web development has shut down temporarily during an investigation by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Matt Gray, one of the co-founders and CEO of Bitmaker Labs, said the company put the brakes on its summer semester to avoid any possible punishment by the ministry that may inhibit the school’s ability to be licensed.

The web developer boot-camp offered students nine weeks of intensive training for $9,000, but was operating without accreditation from the government.

“We never thought that we fell under these regulations . . . due to the unconventional nature of the program and the fact that we never viewed ourselves as a college and were never boasting to be a college or accredited program,” said Gray.

He said since they didn’t offer a diploma or have a rigid formal structure, they would fall into a grey zone.

The ministry caught wind of the operation after positive coverage in the media, according to Gray. The organization’s current crop of 42 students has had their training paused at the fourth week and will resume when accreditation comes through.

The ministry confirmed it is investigating Bitmaker but stressed that no orders have been given to the company. In a statement, it also said a program need not offer diplomas or certificates in order to be considered a “vocational program.”

“As defined in Ontario’s Private Career Colleges Act, 2005, ‘vocational program’ means instruction in the skills and knowledge required in order to obtain employment in a prescribed vocation,” said the statement.

“We’ve shut down pre-emptively to avoid getting a cease and desist (order) and to allow ourselves to continue getting registration as a private career college,” said Gray. The company, which operates out of an office near King St. W. and John St., is working with lawyers and the ministry to expedite the process.

But he says accreditation isn’t appropriate for the type of training that Bitmaker provides because the government’s curriculum approvals can’t keep up with the fast-paced technology industry.

“There are new technologies coming out all the time . . . Some of the things in our curriculum are only eight months old,” said Gray. “For instance, we teach one web framework called AngularJS which was invented by Google less than a year ago.

“We don’t have much of a choice. We’ve kind of been bullied into this to a certain extent with our backs up against the wall, kind of a gun to our heads, and we really have no other choice than to become accredited,” he said.

Bitmaker was started September 2012, promising to give students the skills needed to be a web developer.

“By the end of our program you’ll have over 600 hours of experience and a portfolio of work you can share with our hiring partners; think of it as the most comfortable job interview you’ll ever have,” said the pitch on the company’s website, according to an archive captured in May of this year. It has since been replaced with a statement explaining the shutdown.

Gray hopes that with accreditation will come a chance to nudge the system in a new direction. He said the rules governing accreditation of private career colleges are up for review in September.

Meanwhile, students who have had their training paused will have a chance to resume as soon as accreditation comes through.

Gray remains cautiously optimistic.

“It is dangerous to a start-up like ours. We’re hoping that the process goes fast enough that we’re able to stay competitive,” he said.

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